Fuel



Patented Jan. 19, 1926. I

UNITED sTArss PATENT OFFICE.

GRANT HAMMOND, on NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB. mo rum. :onvnnor- MEN! oonrom'rIoN, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION or nan Ho Drawing.

7 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRANT HAMMOND,.

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Haven in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented Improvements in Fuels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the preparation of fuels, more especially for use in internal combustion engines, and an object of my invention, among others, is the production of a fuel that may be used insuch engines with equal or even better results than are obtained at the present time by the use of gasoline now commonly employed; and a further object of the invention is the production of such a fuel at a reasonable cost.

It has heretofore been proposed to use kerosene as a fuel in internal combustion engines, and especially those of the type now universally used for propelling vehicles of various kinds, and especially automobiles, and while many compounds have been suggested for such purpose none of them have proved eminently successful. In some of these attempts to use kerosene, as above stated, quick igniting substances, such as gasoline or benzol, have been mixed with the kerosene to cause instantaneous combustion, but it seems that in the use of such a mixture the kerosene does not explode as a unit with the quicker igniting substances, and there is consequently an unburned quantity of kerosene that is driven off through the exhaust, and no material amount of power is obtained from its use.

With the use of my improved fuel, as disclosed herein, I obtain results that are highly satisfactory in the operation of ordinary automobilc engines using the ordinary types of carburetors, the engine starting as readily as with gasoline and no carbon troubles being experienced, as elements are introduced into the mixture tending to consume the carbon during combustion.

A general formula for making my improved fuel may be stated to consist of three hundred and eighty-four (384) parts of commercial kerosene, one hundred and -twenty-eight (128) parts of gasoline, five (5) parts of acetone, two and one-half (2 parts of but 1 alcohol, and one-eighth 0 one part 0 glycerine. In combining FUEL.

Application filed June 17, 1922. Serial No. 509,134.

these ingredients, I preferabl make one mixture of the gasoline and the erosene in substantially the proportions above stated and I make another mixture by dissolving the glycerine in a solution of acetone and butyl alcohol in substantially the proportions mentioned, and I then combine the two mixtures. This mixture is then agitated by stirring or shaking, although this agitation is not absolutely necessary unless the fuel is to be used at once.

' The formula above given is one that will operate successfully at substantially all temperatures commonly experienced, but the proportions stated may be varied to a considerable extent if found desirable, to satisfy various conditions. For instance: the gasoline contentmay be as low as five per cent of the kerosene content, and the acetone and butyl alcohol may be in greater or lesser proportions, and the glycerine content may be varied without materially affecting the burning qualities of the fuel. Benzol or any other equivalent material may be used'in place of the gasoline, or both may be used in the compound.

The reasons why combustion of my improved fuel is complete in an engine I am not prepared at this time to state, but I have discovered by experimentation some facts which lead me to believe that the very small proportion of glycerine used causes some kind of a chemical action whereby all ingredients of the compound burn as a unit. In other words, there is some kind of intermolecular action that takes place whereby the kerosene molecules become saturated by the more freely ignitible substance such as gasoline or benzol that seems to cling to the kerosene in such manner that unit combustion takes place. For instance: I have found that commercial gasoline in some quantities and under certain conditions will not be completely consumed b burning, and especially if the receptacle in which it is contained be cold when the gasoline is placed in it, whereas my improved fuel under precisely the same conditions burns more readily and cleanly than commercial gasoline.

Age also seems to produce culmination effects of the substances upon the kerosene as a fuel composed of ten (10) parts 0 asoline and one hundred (100) parts of kerosene with the other components herein mentioned in the proportions iven in the general formula seems to equa in burning qualities said general formula after the proportion has set for two weeks or more.

When used without glycerine the mixture has a tendency to burn as a unit but it does not improve with age, nor does it prevent the igniting components from flashing off without entirely consuming the kerosene, especially when the receptacle in which the mixture is contained is cold or is setting in cold water.

-- Acetone (CH CO CH is principally introduced to cause the combustion of carbon,

and butyl alcohol (C,H,OH) and the glycerine, C H,(OH) also partakes of this quality. 2

I have found by careful fractional distillation that the so called gasoline made by the cracking process is really an A B and (u naphtha and is not hexane (gasoline C H which boils at 75 C., and, therefore, this cracking process becomes practically unnecessary when my process is used, as my fuel burns as well under all conditions as the blended or commercial gasoline which is made from a mixture of cracked gasoline with straight distilled gasoline.

My fuel can be manufactured more cheaply than gasoline made by the crack-' ing process and it is needless to add that it will greatly increase, or in any event supplement, the output of motor fuel for which there are increasing demands annually. My improved fuel has been subjected to a temperature of 30 F. below zero without any perceptible chemical change of any kind taking place and at such temperature the fuel will ignite and burn. In all road tests my improved fuel has given as much or more mileage as commercial gasoline, no

difference being noticeable in the general behavior of the engine.

As stated hereinbefore benzol (C,H,) may take the place of gasoline in my improved fuel, or benzol may be used in conjunction with the gasoline. When benzol is used in place of the asoline the results in the engine are about the same in ordinary tempera tures, but not so good when the temperature is below freezing.

I claim- 1. A combustible mixture comprising kerosene, a light freely ignitible hydrocarbon, and small quantities of acetone, glycerine and butyl alcohol.

2. A combustible mixture comprising kerosene, a substantially less proportion of a light freely ignitible hydrocarbon, and small quantities of acetone, glycerinc and butyl alcohol.

3. A combustible mixture comprising kerosene, about twenty-five per cent of gasoline and small quantities of acetone, glycorine and butyl alcohol.

4. A mixture comprising the following ingredients in substantially the proportions mentioned:

Parts. Kerosene 384 A light freely ignitible hydrocarbon- 128 Acetone 5 Butyl alcohol 2 /3 Glycerine ,4,

5. A mixture comprising the following ingredients in substantially the proportions in entioned Part".

Kerosene 384- Gasoline 12S Acetone 5 Butyl alcohol 2 3 Glycerine /q GRANT HAMMOND. 

